Research

The Effect of Temperature on the Efficiency of Soda Lime as a Carbon Dioxide Scrubber

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the temperature of the gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), affected the amount of CO2 filtered out of a system, or “scrubbed,” by soda lime(Ca(OH)2). By determining if the temperature of the gas had an effect on the filtering of the carbon dioxide, the information could be used to see if this method of CO2 scrubbing would be usable in areas of high concentrations of carbon dioxide output. For instance, this information shows if soda lime would be a reasonable filter in industrial zones where there are many factories that release flue gasses at different temperatures.
Throughout the trials, the temperature of the carbon dioxide gas was varied at 25°C, 43°C, and 71°C by placing the filter apparatus in a water bath at the desired temperatures. The amount of carbon dioxide left unfiltered by the soda lime was then measured in parts per million using a carbon dioxide sensor. A control group with no soda lime was used to assure that the soda lime was in fact filtering the carbon dioxide out of the system.
Through the use of an Analysis of Variance test, it was determined that the temperature of the carbon dioxide did not affect the efficiency of soda lime as a filter because there was no significant difference between the means of the three different sets of temperatures. Similar amounts of carbon dioxide were left unfiltered in each temperature group showing that the soda lime would in fact be a viable filter in industrial zones with different temperature gasses.